Texas Rangers Blog

Yu Darvish slated to make Rangers debut on April 9th against Mariners

SURPRISE, Ariz. — Ron Washington on Thursday finally put to rest any mystery about when Yu Darvish mania will begin in Texas.

Officially: It will be April 9 vs. Seattle.

Unofficially: Wednesday in Frisco.

In announcing his season-opening rotation, the Rangers manager said he would leave Darvish in the No. 4 spot in the rotation, rather than slide him in between lefties Derek Holland and Matt Harrison. Darvish will face Ichiro Suzuki in his debut, which is likely to become a hot ticket. He is also expected to make a short start Wednesday at Double-A Frisco in the Rangers’ final exhibition of the spring.

A week ago, when asked about the possibility of facing Ichiro in his first inning as a major leaguer, Darvish said he was looking forward to the challenge and praised him as a great hitter. On Thursday, however, he was much more restrained in his reaction to the starting assignment.

“Wherever and whenever I’m told to pitch, I’ll just do my best,” Darvish said in a brief statement. “That’s all I’m thinking about right now.”

Washington said the team will leave the rotation exactly as it has been set during spring, based on MLB starting experience. Colby Lewis, with 98 starts, gets the opener. Holland (63) and Harrison (62) follow before Darvish and No. 5 Neftali Feliz, neither of whom have ever started a major league game.

The last hurdle to clear was Feliz’s bullpen throwing session Thursday, which followed his minor league start Tuesday. Feliz had no issues with the bullpen session. As soon as Feliz was done, Washington pulled right-handers Alexi Ogando and Scott Feldman aside to tell them they’d be moving back to the bullpen.

They are disappointed, and they should be,” Washington said. “Their talents and skills will be used to help us win. I told them they are part of a successful organization and that they can be a big part of the Rangers’ success in 2012. And if that didn’t make them feel better, sometimes that’s life. You can only have five starters. We have seven good ones.”